South Asian Heritage Month

South Asian Heritage Month seeks to commemorate, mark and celebrate South Asian cultures, histories and communities and understand the diverse heritage and cultures that continue to link the UK with South Asia.

Along with providing learning opportunities for others, the month enables people of South Asian heritage to reclaim their history and identity by sharing their own stories and experiences.

This year’s theme for South Asian Heritage Month is ‘Roots to Routes’. Throughout this month we’ll be exploring how people left their roots in South Asia and migrated to the Bradford District (along differing routes), celebrating how this migration added to the rich tapestry of Bradford but also the potential effects it had on their mental health and how this legacy still exists today.

Campaign in partnership with:

Bradford’s rich tapestry started with wool

Bradford has a long and significant history as a global centre of he wool trade and textile manufacturing. From cottage industries in the 1700s to becoming the wool capital of the world in the 1800s, Bradford has seen it all. It was in fact due to the textiles that Bradford saw a boom in South Asian migration in the 1950s and beyond. Most of the migration was from rural areas of South Asia from where people came to work in the mills and seek a better quality of life for their families.

Suits and boots – a thing of prestige and rarity in South Asia, yet readily available in Bradford was where they turned their attention. Suited and booted professional photographs to send to their relatives ‘back home’.

The idea for most people was to earn money and move back but most ended up staying planting roots in Bradford that have bloomed over the last 50 years. They left their own roots and travelled distant routes, away from everything they knew and held dear.

This was their roots to routes story.

Photographs above are part of the Belle Vue Photo Archive collection held at Bradford District Museums & Galleries.

But uprooting is never easy. People had left everything they knew and held dear – language, culture, food, climate and family – their whole support networks. How did this make them feel? Lonely? Isolated? Alone?

They were told – men don’t cry; they work. So even if the (predominantly male) migrants felt they needed support it wasn’t available in an alien world they didn’t understand. And even if support was available the stigma attached to mental health at the time was huge. What’s wrong with you? You’re here to work? Get on with it!

These migrants faced numerous challenges including mental health, alone. They didn’t talk about it.

Fast forward 50 years…have things changed? The roots are established but there is still stigma attached to mental health within the South Asian community. We’re working to break down those barriers slowly. Bradford and District Craven Mind, together with our partners, have a new programme in place called Hope and Light, which is all about providing mental health services to our ethnically and culturally diverse communities in a way they want. The service is tailored to you whether that be through faith or culture.

Find out more about Hope and Light